Jumanji: The Next Level Review

The 2017 sequel/soft-reboot of the Jumanji sequel was a surprise critical and commercial hit. A second sequel has been fast-tracked to provide more video-game based adventures.

Since surviving Jumanji and the perils of high school, Spencer (Alex Wolff) has fallen into a deep depression. He is lonely at New York University, hasn’t communicated with his old friends for months, and when he returns home for the Christmas holidays he has to share a room with his grandfather, Eric (Danny DeVito). Out of desperation Spencer fixes the broken Jumanji console and goes back into the video game world, forcing his friends to rescue him.

Jumanji: The Next Level is a perfect example of a cash-grab sequel. The previous film ended in a manner where the story had a conclusion: the characters had destroyed the Jumanji console to prevent anyone using it and the character arcs were complete. Spencer and Martha (Morgan Turner) end up being more confident and declare their love for each other, Bethany (Madison Iseman) learned to be selfless and quartet become friends. It was The Breakfast Club disguised as an action-adventure film.

Jumanji is owned by Sony, a studio desperate for a stable franchise, and that studio is currently run by Tom Rothman, a man who normally bases his decisions on numbers. This isn’t an environment that fosters creativity or risk-taking. And Jumanji: The Next Level is what you would expect from a Rothman-led studio – a middle of the road film that aims to maximize profits.

The sequel kept the creative team who made Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, so there was a lot of consistency. They clearly tried their best to make The Next Level work as a continuation. Martha was more confident and outgoing, she even wears a nose ring, and Bethany had been volunteering in Central America. Martha has to become the leader in the game world, making The Next Level a starring vehicle for Karen Gillan.

The new adventure in The Next Level was basically a video game sequel. Director Jake Kasdan and his writers understood what people would expect from a video game sequel: characters having new abilities and new characters getting introduced, i.e. Ming Fleetfoot (Awkwafina.) But other aspects within the game world would make “Jumanji” incredibly unbalanced because Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) and Ruby Roundhouse (Gillan) being overpowered and Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Kevin Hart) and Sheldon Oberon (Jack Black) were useless. Any gamer knows characters have to be balanced: big characters are strong but slow and small characters are fast but weak. The screenwriters used a few Deus Ex Machina just before the third act which is lazy screenwriting.

The game world was a mix of different ideas. The basic plot within the game was a stock fantasy plot which was acceptable since many games, especially from the ‘80s and ‘90s have thin plots. The film’s real story was about surviving the game. The levels include a Mad Max-esque desert, a town that Indiana Jones would find himself in, and the villains looked like the Wildlings from Game of Thrones. It wouldn’t be surprising if Kristofer Hivju was approached to play the main villain.

The Next Level‘s main interest was in the character dynamics. Martha and Fridge had to act as the leaders in the game world whilst Eric and his former friend, Milo (Danny Glover) had to repair their damaged relationship. The film was functional on that level. Kevin Hart was the most surprising member of the cast because he did a damn good impression of Danny Glover. Jack Black was clearly having fun again, this time playing Fridge. Other actors didn’t fare so well: Johnson and Awkwafina were the ones that suffered because they had the play the stereotypical old man with a faux New York accent.

As an action film Jumanji: The Next Level was serviceable. The action sequences were of a decent standard: Karen Gillan got to show off her martial arts skills, leading to thoughts that in an alternative timeline she could have played Black Widow. The CGI was weak for a blockbuster.

The Next Level added to the backstory the game world, particularly for Smolder Bravestone. The film used it in a haphazard way because some NPCs saw Bravestone as the character within their world, not that he has the mind of an old man. It made logical sense when Eric crosses Bravestone’s love rival, but an early reveal that the villain, Jurgen the Brutal (Rory McCann), killed Bravestone’s parents was never explored.

Jumanji: The Next Level was a passable action-adventure film that will be buried when Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker comes out.